Emotiva Audio to Acquire Bob Carver LLC

Sorry if you had your brains explode all over your monitor, but it happened to us too. As revealed in this week's Emotiva Podcast, Emotiva has acquired Bob Carver LLC. Emotiva, long known to the Audioholics of the world as the go-to manufacturer for Internet Direct amplifiers, has a history of providing solid-state amplifiers at a fraction of the price of the brick and mortar competition. Bob Carver, a literal giant (but not too literal, like Fezzik) in the field of amplifiers, has a long history in the world of high-end audio through his companies, which include the well-respected Sunfire.

Bob Carver LLC is a new start-up from Carver that is focused on tube amps (as we reported here and here). Carver and partner Bob Farinelli started the company a few years ago. Farinelli is reportedly leaving to focus on his own automation company Smart Farm, LLC. Carver will begin working with Emotiva and his technologies will be integrated into both the Emotiva lineup and the Sherbourn line that Emotiva's parent company (Jade) acquired a few years ago.

While the announcement may be a bit premature, Emotiva has promised that the deal is all but done and that Emotiva will immediately take over production of the Bob Carver LLC. lineup of products. Keeping in the spirit of the original Bob Carver LLC products, all the original products will still be made in the Unites States at the Emotiva facilities.

This is an exciting development for all those interested in tube amps but not interested in their traditionally high cost. While we expect the Sherbourn products to be as expensive as custom installer products tend to be, we wonder what will end up in the Internet direct store on the Emotiva side. Carver's products have been traditionally sold exclusively through custom shops, so this is a big change for him.

Carver, reportedly, will be "deeply involved" in R&D at Emotiva—news that has vast implications for the future of Emotiva's offerings. On top of all this, with Carver's work with Sunfire, a company known not only for amplifiers but subwoofers, more changes in Emotiva's offerings are surely on the horizon. Dan Laufman, Emotiva Principal, said on the podcast, “We’re going to make a very, very serious effort in the high-performance subwoofer category."

Carver will be integrated into the Emotiva company in a design and development side. This mean Carver will be able to focus on coming up with new and interesting technologies and solutions while allowing Emotiva to focus on production and sales.

We, for one, are pretty excited to see how this all plays out. But, there are sure to be many different opinions about this acquisition. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

About the author:

As Associate Editor at Audioholics, Tom promises to the best of his ability to give each review the same amount of attention, consideration, and thoughtfulness as possible and keep his writings free from undue bias and preconceptions. Any indication, either internally or from another, that bias has entered into his review will be immediately investigated. Substantiation of mistakes or bias will be immediately corrected regardless of personal stake, feelings, or ego.

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First, yes, our professional relationship with Bob Carver is at an end. Iwas excited to have had the opportunity to have worked with him.

Second, we're absolutely committed to making tube amps (and otherproducts) under the Emotiva name, and they're coming to our website inshort order. You'll see them listed under a separate series, like we'vedone with the Pro products.

Finally, thank you for bearing with us in this transitional time. Wesimply need to work through some details before you see tube amps forsale on emotiva.com, and we maintain our greatest respect for Bob Carverand his work, as well as our commitment to providing exciting tube ampswith exceptional value and performance under the Emotiva name.

All the best,Big Dan

surveyor posts on October 17, 2013 21:18

Is their malice in the palace already between Bob Carver and Emotiva? There has not been any new news at Emotiva. Carver was not at their Emofest either.

roydion78 posts on April 26, 2013 21:29

That will then make the perception of the brand as a whole increase.

slipperybidness posts on April 26, 2013 08:10

jeffca, post: 965634Bringing a man of Bob Carver's titanic stature into Emotiva should be a great thing… at least for a while! It's akin to a car company bringing the late, great Carroll Shelby on board to design sports cars. You know that there are going to be at least a few truly great things to come of it.

That is probably a very good analogy

jeffca posts on April 25, 2013 21:26

Wow!

This is like finding out that David Bowie and Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree are going to collaborate.

Over the years, the bane of Bob Carver's existence has been the business side of the industry and the invasiveness of bean counters that comes with success. He opted out of Phase Linear because of that, got kicked out of Carver because of that and I'm sure that some part of that caused him to leave Sunfire.

Bringing a man of Bob Carver's titanic stature into Emotiva should be a great thing… at least for a while! It's akin to a car company bringing the late, great Carroll Shelby on board to design sports cars. You know that there are going to be at least a few truly great things to come of it.